Me and My Shadow
by Hawki
Summary: Oneshot: What do you do when you've written three of the most critically acclaimed plays in Equestria? Why, write a fourth one of course. Also potentially make contact with eldritch abominations that claw away at the fabric of reality while seeking to devour the universe. Y'know. Baby steps.


**Me and My Shadow**

_So, _Autumn Blaze thought to herself. _This is what writer's block feels like._

Or maybe not. Writer's block applied to novelists as far as she was aware. And of all the things that she was, novelist wasn't among them. What she was, on the other hoof, included being Equestria Sudoku Champion for the third year running, and writer/producer, and one-time director of breakout hits such as _Citizen Mane_, _Hamiltrot_, and her magnum opus, her jewel in her crown, her piece de la resistance, _Pony of the Opera_. As it turned out, when you were forced to remain silent for years, only to get your voice back later, it tended to get the creative juices flowing. Enough so that with the kirin establishing relations with Equestria, the country's art scene had lapped up her works and fast-tracked them to the stage. Which, after an apparent disaster with Princess Celestia herself no less, the ponies she'd worked with needed a big break.

Only now, cooped up in an apartment in Manehattan, they wanted the next big thing. They wanted Autumn Blaze to show the world that she wasn't a one-hit wonder. That her previous plays had been three hits aside, she'd taken up the challenge. Because as it turned out, her ability to sing at the drop of a hoof didn't count for much here (seriously, it was totally freaky how every pony in Equestria had the ability to sing and do a montage without warning), and stand-up comedy wasn't in vogue right now. When your land ran on the magic of friendship, it meant that certain topics and certain jokes were deemed too inappropriate for some ponies. "Ponyitical correctness" as the saying went. A trend (hopefully), but in the meantime, that meant going back to the drawing board.

Or rather the scroll, Autumn reflected bitterly. Because it sat there on the desk before her, its white sheet gleaming under the apartment's candlelight. She needed something – anything – by tomorrow, and so far all she had to show for it were a pile of crushed up parchments that had half-baked ideas jotted down.

_Could do an autobiography, _she supposed. _Or would that be too self-promotional? I mean, not that Equestria isn't against self-promotion, if all those plastic toys are anything to go by._

She had no idea how Queen Twilight Sparkle felt about the whole plastic figurine craze, but she figured that she was rolling with it. That, or she was still hoping that her toys would outsell those weird ones with the transforming wagons that fought for the future of some wooden planet. They were actually making a movie about that as well. Not that Autumn knew why so many pony characters were slated to be in that movie when she thought that the audience would come for the transforming wagons, but hey, what did she know about show business? She'd only just penned the three most critically acclaimed plays in Equestrian history.

_Tired. Need sleep. _She rested her head against the desk. _Sleep…sleep…need sleep…so much sleep…Doctor Sleep? No. That's taken. Shame. I really took a shining to that movie. I-_

"Autumn Blaze?"

"Gah!" She sprang up in her chair and looked around the dimly lit room. "Who's there?"

There was no answer. But then, if someone was there, she reflected, would they tell her she was there? Like, maybe they would, but if they did, that might mean they were going to start stabbing her with a horn or something. Or-

"Hello Autumn."

Or they might speak in a soft, totally not creepy voice that sent chills down her spine and give her goose bumps beneath her fur. And not the type of goose bumps that came from seeing giant talking wagons saying that freedom was the right of all sapient beings (not sentient though, bastard), but the kind that came from seeing a walking, talking, shadowy replica of herself standing in the gloom. Like, just another day in Equestria, right?

"Miss me?"

Autumn blinked and walked over to the shadow creature. It looked like her. It talked like her. Despite its darkness, it didn't resemble her nirik form, it was 100% Celestian certified shadow doppelganger material. Which meant that…well, actually she wasn't sure what it meant. Possibly that she was insane, granted.

"Well?"

"Um…yeah," Autumn said, rubbing her neck gingerly. "Much as I like the whole dark, spooky, evil doppelganger thing, I don't even know who you are?"

The shadow's snow-white eyes narrow.

"I mean, I'd be happy to get to know you of course," Autumn added hastily. "I mean, in Equestria, anyone can be friends with anyone, right? I mean, except buffalo…and zebras…and umbrum…and-

"You already know me," the shadow creature whispered. "You named me."

Autumn snorted. "Pretty sure I'd remember naming a creature like you."

"But you named me all the same," the shadow creature said. "Silhouette Gloom of the Sundown Lands."

Autumn stared.

"Silhouette Gloom," the creature repeated.

Autumn blinked.

"Silhouette Gloom of the Sundown Lands!" the creature snapped. "Your shadow! The one you talked with after the kirin banished you for not being able to shut your trap."

"Um…"

"Look around, Autumn, if you can. Where's your shadow now?"

Autumn did so. She turned around. Then spun around. Then jumped around. Then began to hyperventilate, because sure enough, she had no shadow. The candle continued to flicker, but the only shadow in this room was the one before her. This creature. Her shadow. The one she'd talked to for months on end, bereft of any company aside from her fruit and basket chorus.

"You used to talk to me," Silhouette whispered. "Months on end, you poured your deepest, darkest secrets into me. Your hopes. Your dreams. Your fears."

Autumn met her shadow's gaze, trying to steady her breathing.

"But that stopped the day that pony showed up," the shadow continued. "One hillbilly from an apple farm, and the kirins get their voices back." It stepped towards Autumn. "That was when everything changed. When you left me in the darkness. When you stopped sparing your shadow a second thought."

"Um…" Autumn trailed off. She wasn't sure what to say. Sorry for not staying batty about the whole feeling of crushing isolation being lifted when her people regained the ability to speak? Sorry about becoming a well-adjusted kirin being again? Sorry for-

"Of course it doesn't matter," the shadow whispered.

"Oh thank goodness," Autumn said, laughing. "For a moment I thought I'd have to apologize to my shadow, and that would be super weird."

"Think that's weird, get a load of this."

Autumn watched as Silhouette smiled. And not the good kind of smile, Autumn noticed. More the "I'm evil and I'm going to do something evil" smile, mixed in with a dash of "no really, I'm evil," and several pints of "haven't you figured out that I'm evil yet?!" Why her shadow would be evil, she wasn't sure. But she did know that Silhouette Gloom of the Sundown Lands was growing very big, very fast, but also losing its form. The shadow was growing to consume the whole room. The candle winked out, but the shadow remained. Looking down at Autumn like the onset of winter.

"What are you doing?" Autumn whispered.

Silhouette Gloom cackled. "Helping you." It grinned, showing razor-sharp teeth. "Don't worry. This won't hurt. Much."

Autumn didn't have time to respond as the shadow took her. Engulfed her. Took her body. Touched her soul. Covered her mouth, so that she couldn't scream. Covered her eyes, so she couldn't see the eldritch horror she'd unleashed. It writhed, she squirmed, and slowly, ever so slowly, the last of her light was devoured. Going…going…going…

"No!"

She sprung up from her desk and looked around. No shadow. The candle was still flickering. Her head was pounding, and the clock said it was 6:06, with the second hand also at 6. Which meant that it was early morning, which meant that she'd fallen asleep, which meant that she didn't have anything to hand into her producers.

_But hey, least I'm not possessed by some kind of shadow-demon. That's something, right?_

Well, it was something. Whether it was a worse fate than having to stare down her producers, she couldn't be sure. But-

_Wait a minute._

Autumn leant forward in her chair and stared at the parchment. The ink. Paragraphs upon paragraphs. Taking them up in her hooves, she stared at the story that had been penned. One of supernatural entities, of creatures that exited beyond the eyes of mortals. Of shadows that were attached to every living being in this world. Abominations that scratched away at the veil of reality, seeking to devour all light and life. Characters who started out with hope, and gave into their insanity by the end of the play, as reality crumbled around them, as sleeping gods awoke and heralded the end of the world. And there, at the top of it, a title. A simple title that belied the horrors the play contained.

_Me and My Shadow_

Also, there was note saying that the play wasn't suitable for fillies, that it ran for 120 minutes with a 15 minute interval, and that any similarities to the works of H.P. Lovecraft were entirely coincidental. Not that Autumn Blaze knew who that was, but judging by the surname, he sounded like the type of person who worked on writing uplifting, morally sound works where the magic of friendship was spread. Ergo, the last person who'd work on a play as macabre as this.

_Can I even submit this? _Autumn wondered. _Like, if this play is performed, will it trigger the end of the world? Or will it cement my standing as one of the greatest playwrights in Equestria, as someone who has range outside musicals and plays where snow sleds are a plot twist?_

After a moment's hesitation, she decided that such a feat was well worth the potential destruction of the world. So with that said, she stuffed the parchment in her satchel and headed for the door. Hoping that she could get to the stage in time.

Also that the producers wouldn't mind the sketches of pentagrams and skulls scattered throughout the parchment. But hey, it was only a first draft.


End file.
